


Determination

by DashFlintceschi



Series: Illnesses/Disabilities Alphabet Challenge [17]
Category: You Me At Six
Genre: Dan's his carer and physical therapist, Elissa's mentioned a few times, Gen, Josh is paralysed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-26
Updated: 2014-06-26
Packaged: 2018-02-06 06:19:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1847599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DashFlintceschi/pseuds/DashFlintceschi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh is paralysed from the neck down after a freak rugby accident when he was 17. After he has surgery to fix his spinal cord, he needs a carer and physical therapist to help him get back on his feet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Determination

**Author's Note:**

> Q is for Quadriplegia. For any Americans/Australians/anyone else who isn't familiar with the term 'dole queue', it's a British slang term for the Job Centre that unemployed people go to, usually once a week, or once a fortnight, to prove they're looking for work so they can get benefits. Also, I thought 'soft palate diet' was a general term, but a quick Google search has shown me that the care home I used to work in are apparently the only people that use it, so what I'm referring to when I say 'soft palate diet' is a completely soft diet for people who have problems with chewing or swallowing.

When Dan’s laid off from the hospital, he thinks he’s going to be stuck searching for jobs in the dole queue for months. It’s only two days later, though, when he’s lazily reading the paper on Sunday morning, that he sees the small advert in the jobs section.

_‘Live-in physical therapist and carer required for quadriplegic. Preferably male. If interested, call to enquire Mon-Sun 9AM to 7PM’._

Dan considers it for a minute, then decides he’s got nothing to lose, and, checking the time to make sure it’s after nine, grabs his mobile from beside him on the couch and dials the number. He speaks to the sister of the guy that placed the advert, and she gives him the address and asks him to come tomorrow at eleven for an interview.

He spends most of Sunday dithering over what to wear, but in the end, he decides that the best way to go is to prove he’s done this kind of work before, so when he knocks on the door at exactly eleven on Monday morning, he’s wearing the light blue polo shirt and navy blue trousers he wore every day for the five years he was with the physical therapy department at Weybridge Community Hospital. When the girl he spoke to on the phone, Elissa, answers the door, she looks worried.

“If you’d said you were working today…” She trails off as he shakes his head with a smile.

“I’m not, I just didn’t know what else I was supposed to wear,” he admits, and she laughs in relief as she lets him in. She leads him into the living room, where a young man, around Dan’s age, is sitting in an armchair, smiling at him welcomingly.

“Hi, I’m Josh,” He introduces himself, straining slightly as he manages to lift his arm a few inches, and Dan gets the hint, crossing the room and taking Josh’s hand, gripping as tight as he normally would, but not shaking it anywhere near as strongly as he usually would.

“Dan Flint, pleasure’s entirely mine,” he returns, and Josh grins, pointing as best he can to the couch across from his armchair in a silent invitation to sit down. Dan takes it and sits down, gladly accepting Elissa’s offer of tea.

Once Elissa’s given him his tea, and sat Josh’s on a small shelf that’s level with his shoulder, and placed the straw that’s in the mug so that Josh can easily catch it in his mouth, Dan decides to get down to business.

“So, your ad said you were looking for a physical therapist?” He prompts, and Josh nods as he swallows a mouthful of tea.

“Yeah, I had surgery to repair my spinal cord a few months ago. Now that the scans have shown it worked, and I’ve regained sensation and a bit of movement, we’ve decided it’s time to get me moving again. If you take the job, I’ll just need you to act as a carer until our efforts start paying off,” he explains, and Dan nods.

“Alright, could you outline the tasks you’d need me to do?” He asks, and Josh grins.

“You’re the first person I’ve interviewed that’s known what they’re doing enough to ask that. Well, as you’ve seen, I can drink without help, as long as you sit it where I can reach. Obviously, I need help eating, I’ll need you to change my catheter and colostomy bags a few times a day, bathing, transferring from the bed or this chair to my wheelchair, general housework, and the two that have sent everyone else running, I’ll need you to get up every hour and a half each night to help me turn over, to avoid pressure sores, and I’ll need your help treating any pressure sores that do crop up, as, obviously, they can’t be completely avoided.”

Josh was already impressed with Dan, purely from his professional and friendly demeanour, but what clinches it for him is when, just before he starts listing all the things he’ll need Dan to do for him, Dan pulls a small notepad and a pen from his pocket and writes down everything Josh says. Once he’s done, Dan nods.

“I wouldn’t have any issue with assisting you with those tasks,” he announces, and Josh grins.

“Fantastic. So, Elissa’s already done a background check, and she’s been speaking with your previous supervisor while we’ve been talking,” he pauses and looks up as Elissa comes back into the room with a smile.

“A hard-working, delightful employee, who’s a joy to be around,” she tells him, and his grin widens as he turns back to Dan.

“In that case, the job’s yours, if you still want it,” he tells him, and Dan grins.

“I want it very much,” he replies softly, and Josh nods.

“In that case, Liss, can you show him the spare room, well, his room now, and if you need help moving your stuff in, Dan, just say the word, and I’ll see if I can talk my dad and my best friend into helping,” he offers, and Dan laughs.

“Don’t worry about it. I don’t have a lot of stuff, and it should be easy enough to move. Thanks anyway.”

Dan has all of his stuff moved into the spacious room by five o’clock, and once Elissa shows him where the most important stuff is, she leaves him to it. He’s about to start making dinner, when it occurs to him that he forgot to ask a very important question. He quickly goes to the living room and sits on the arm of the couch.

“I should have asked earlier, are you on a soft palate diet, or do you have any allergies or anything like that I should know about?” He asks, and Josh smiles as he shakes his head.

“Nope, no soft palate, no allergies or intolerances. Though, if you try to make me eat cabbage or turnip, they will end up in the bin,” he replies, and Dan laughs as he gets back up and starts to go back into the kitchen.

“Chicken, mashed potatoes and peas ok?” He asks, and Josh grins.

“Sounds fucking brilliant.”

Once Dan’s helped Josh eat, eaten his own, and changed Josh’s catheter bag, there’s nothing else he needs to do until Josh is ready to go to bed, so he settles down on the couch and they watch a shit horror film while they get to know each other better. When Josh announces he’s ready for bed, he starts telling Dan how to set up the sling to transfer him to his wheelchair, but Dan just scoops Josh up in his arms and places him gently in the wheelchair.

“You’re going to do your back in, doing that,” he chastises softly, but Dan scoffs as he moves behind the chair and starts manoeuvring towards Josh’s bedroom.

“You barely weigh a thing, and I spent two years as a nurse in the spinal ward before I moved to physical therapy, I’m used to lifting heavier, more unwieldy people than you,” he insists, and Josh nods.

“Alright, if you’re sure you can manage it safely,” he relents, and Dan smiles as he lifts Josh again easily and moves him to the bed.

The next morning, Dan’s already made tea and toast for them both when he hears Josh call his name from his bedroom. He changes both his bags, gets him dressed for the day, and moves him to his armchair, then washes his hands meticulously before he takes breakfast into the living room, eating his own with one hand as he holds out each slice for Josh to bite into with the other.

Once they’re done eating, and they’ve had some time to digest, Dan gets to work with the therapy plan he’s worked out for Josh. He’s decided to start with his arms first, and work their way down. Once he’s talked over his plan with Josh, and he agrees to it, Dan holds his hand out above Josh’s, about six inches above it.

“Right, touch my hand,” he requests, and though it takes a while, and he breaks out in a sweat from the effort, he manages it. As soon as his fingertips brush Dan’s hand, he lets his arm drop with a relieved sigh, but it quickly turns to a groan. “Again. We’re going to do this every day, ten times for each arm, until you can lift it without a struggle, and keep it up, touching my hand, for ten seconds. Once you can do that, we’re going to do it until you can keep touching my hand for twenty seconds, then thirty. Once you can do it for thirty seconds, I’m going to move my hand further up, and we’ll start all over again, until you can hold both arms above your head for thirty seconds without any pain or struggle,” he insists, and Josh sighs with a nod and does as he’s told.

It takes a week for Josh to be able to keep each of his hands touching Dan’s for ten seconds, but once he passes that barrier, it seems to get easier, and he manages twenty seconds only three days later. He gets stuck at twenty-five seconds for a week and a half, but one day, when Elissa, Josh’s best friend, Max, and one of Dan’s best friends, Chris are there with them, he gets so wrapped up in the conversation that he doesn’t notice his hand is still up until the shaking in his arm is impossible to ignore.

“How long…?” He asks Dan, who grins.

“Fifty-three seconds. I was going to say something when you got to thirty, but I wanted to see how long you could do it,” he tells him, and Josh grins. He immediately lifts the other arm, and manages thirty-seven seconds. Both Max and Chris look at Dan as if he’s being cruel when he immediately moves his hand up, so it’s a foot above Josh’s, and makes him do it again, but Dan just shrugs. “How’s he supposed to build up his strength if I don’t push him?” Is all he says, and though they both look like they think Josh deserves a break, they don’t say anything.

By the end of the month, Josh can hold both arms above his head for thirty seconds without difficulty, and Dan moves on to strengthening his spine, making him lean forward and touch his thighs ten times, three times a day. When he can do that easily, Dan ups it to twenty, then when Josh can do that, he moves on to making him touch his knees, then his shins, then his toes.

By the time they start working on his legs, Josh has regained complete control of his bodily functions, and he’s had the catheter and the colostomy bag removed, so all Dan has to do for him now is help him turn over, only now it’s every three hours; treat his pressure sores, though there’s a lot less of them now; help him get dressed, though Josh can do his upper half himself, so it’s only his boxers, trousers, socks and shoes now; move him from the bed or his armchair to his wheelchair; and cook, clean and do his washing for him. As they’re working on his foot and ankle muscles on the third day of working on his legs, Josh stops mid-exercise.

“Y’know, I’ve never thanked you for everything you’ve done for me,” he comments, and Dan smiles, pushing at his foot to get him working again.

“You don’t have to thank me. Seeing you get your independence back is all the thanks I need,” he insists, and Josh smiles.

“Well, thank you, anyway. I honestly appreciate all the compassion and determination you’ve put into helping me,” he tells him, and Dan nods.

“I’m glad I’ve been able to help you, now keep working.”

A few times, Josh gets upset or frustrated, and they stop working on the physical therapy, and Dan just listens while Josh gets it all out, which is how Dan finds out how Josh ended up paralysed. A freak accident when he was playing rugby in high school, a badly angled tackle that broke his C-3 to C-7 vertebrae, and his spinal cord. It took until he was twenty-three, six years, for it to become operable. When Josh breaks down like this, Dan listens attentively until he’s gotten it all out, gives him a hug, and reminds him that while it’s hard, he’s on his way to recovery now, and he won’t feel helpless the way he does for much longer. These heart-to-hearts seem to help Josh, and for a few days after each talk, he works himself even harder than usual.

After two more months, Josh is on his feet. He’s shaky, his legs are still weak, and he can only stay standing for a few minutes with the help of crutches, but it’s enough for him. Though it’ll take several months before Josh is completely mobile, he has all the information he needs to carry on by himself, which means he doesn’t need Dan anymore. Though Dan always knew this job would come to an end eventually, he’s going to miss it, and he’s going to miss Josh. As he’s moving the last of his stuff out, he happily agrees to Josh’s suggestion that they stay in touch. Josh may have technically been his employer, but Dan considers him a good friend, and he’s happy to keep him in his life.

When Dan interviews for a job at another hospital a few weeks later, he can’t help the grin that splits his face when the interviewer tells him that she’s never seen such an amazing reference as the one Josh has given him. She later tells him that it was the way he spoke about working with Josh that got him the job, and Dan buys Josh several pints in thanks.

The thing that puts a bigger grin on his face than he thought physically possible, happens seven months later. He’s browsing idly in Primark with Matt, his best friend, when he hears someone call his name. The grin comes when he turns towards the voice, and sees Josh walking strongly, easily and unaided towards him, Max at his side, looking as proud of Josh as Dan feels. Dan’s worked with a lot of people in his career, and he knows he’ll work with thousands more, but he’s sure he’ll never be as proud of any of them as he is of Josh.


End file.
